some people from japan are on a journey into their past. they are paying their respects to relatives they lost at the end of world war ii. fathers and brothers who were

died and buried far if home. >> reporter: parents or siblings died of illness or hunger while interned by the soviet military. it occupied north korea right after the war. the group rooifed on saturday. they visited a site where the dead were bury and a hill where the graves were relocated. some japanese are praying for their family members and relatives at their grave site. this is the first visit of its kind since world war ii. japan's health ministry says some 35,000 japanese died in this area. it says the remains about 20,000

have not been returned. the group left memory markers, offered sweets and liquor and prayed for the repose of their loved ones souls. >> translator: my feelings are complex. i'm sorry to have kept you waiting in such a distant place and i'm thankful to you for waiting. >> translator: we all feel great joy at being able to pray for them today. i deeply appreciate all the efforts people have undertaken to make this visit possible for us. >> reporter: officials of the north are proposing a joint project to study the remains. the north hopes for economic cooperation from japan as

compensation for its colonial rule. they expect more japanese to visit the burial sites. japan puts more emphasis on the abduction of the japanese. este leaders are seeing against their sanctions against iran are working. u.s. and european officials organize an oil embargo to encourage the them to abandon their ambitions. >> reporter: it dropped below 35,000 against the dollar for the first time since islamic

revolution of 1979. the currency has fallen nearly 20% against the dollar in one week. it's 70% down year on year. exchange markets in tehran has been busy selling dollars or euros. people are complaining of high unemployment and expressing worries about the future. >> translator: this is a disaster. as the dollar goes up it brings inflation and makes our daily essentials more expresencive. >> translator: i lost my job with the food company and i'm jobless now. >> reporter: iranian president has faced questions in parliament over his inability to hold the currency's decline. the european union is considering further sanctions against iran this month. the iranian government has yet to take effective action to stop the further decline of its

currency. japanese and south korean politicians have been sparring over territory they both claim in the sea of japan. the arguments have been heated and solutions seem in short supply. despite the friction citizens of both countries are trying to say friends. crowds gathered in central tokyo over the weekend and showed up the culture traditions of both countries. the long standing expression describes the relationship between japan and south korea sounds out of date here.

>> translator: i don't feel the tension between japan and south kor korea. the event is a positive thing. >> reporter: especially when you see this. a traditional korean style wedding. organizers helped the ceremony for the first time. a japanese korean couple said the vows. he's a groom to be. he'll marry his japanese girlfriend next year. he was educated mainly in britain. now he works in tokyo at his mother's korean restaurant. he taught himself japanese and is fluent. marrying a nonkorean seemed

natural. >> translator: as a korean citizen living and working in japan who chose to marry a japanese woman, i feel the way the dispute is handled on tv is exaggerated. >> reporter: more than 40,000 korean japanese couples get married every year, but people didn't welcome the unions as much years ago as they do now. he's a third generation korean living in japan. the japanese colonized from the early 1900s until the end of world war ii. that bitter history kept people apart. he decided to feature the wedding ceremony to show how things have changed. >>ranslator: the old generation used to strongly

oppose japanese and koreans getting married. that is not the case anymore for the younger generation. >> reporter: he's long hoped the bond between japanese and koreans become stronger. he supports the cross culture marriages. on the day of the wedding ceremony, he and more than 70 volunteers kept things running. more than a hundred spectators welcomed the international couple. >> translator: i hope the number of japanese south korean couples will increase. it's fun for me to experience different cultures. >> translator: i hope this event will help deepen the ties between people in our country.

territory disputes and issues should be dealt with at a hher level. we want to keep a good distance away from that and continue our relationship. >> reporter: the people of japan and south korea share a difficult history. relations in the present are far from problem free. the crowds that came to this little auditorium in tokyo see things differently. they see an indispensable friendship that needs to be nurtured. politicians in greece have come to an agreement after hours of wrangling over their budget plan for next year. this is certainly a tough time for greek politicians. >> definitely with unemployment rate over 20% if june they have

a lot to think about. in turning to greek citizens they may have more cause for complaint over further austerity measures. leaders propose a cut of 7.8 euros or $10 billion. the elderly will be held by further pension reductions while public servants are to have salaries cut. leaders propose decreases in social security payments. eu minister will be watching closely. they'll save about 60% of that with the new reductions. the ministers have yet to thrash out details of the austerity measures. greek economic growth will shrink by 3.8% next year due to

draft budgets. japan's new economic and fiscal policy minister says he will be watching efforts by the central bank to tackle deflation. >> translator: i will closely monitor whether the bank of japan follows through aimed at bringing the country out of deflation. i will edge the bank's board to take appropriate action toward that goal. >> he indicated additional monetary easing is one option he's considering. referring to possible purchase of foreign government bonds he said it could be an effective way to curb the yen's strength. let's check on the markets w. we saw mixed session in the u.s. as tech shares dragged the

nasdaq lower. to see how stocks are trading this tuesday we go to ramin who is standing by for us at the tokyo stoke exchange. a bit a mixed picture b los like we'reeeingom sitives. w u. idedst a wch before tt eupe cting fig also bpehe dr and ch ayans we. let's have lk atf ing levr the nikkei and theopix for thiesday. bore in e si.827 for the nikkeir the topix.

it also shodok rf a froeuropeanu indes will blose mos t for public holidays. japan-china tensions retions, teions in e ratns pling mke whave the likes o s thadeonhie lower yesterday. both construction manufacture ri str struggling to make end roads in china. chinese builders have a step back or eased off from the rampant building. there's previous intense competition from u.s. manufacturers such as tatter pillar as well as doe messiahic manufacture domestic sales figures from fast resaling for its popular

clothing chain. we'll keep track of how that fairs. let's look at currency. the euro now to 100. >> do you think domestic issues may play a part? >> definitely. new finance minister took markets by a bit of a surprise there. a lot obstacles there not only from infighting from his own party but opposition party as well. next week we have the imf which is convening here in pan. markets will be watching very closely if he can push through some of those new fiscal

policies. back to you. tnks so much. at i all fore for now. ll leave you with the recap of the maetures rescue teams are searching for survivors after a ferry sank off of hong kong's island. the ferry was carrying more than

120 passengers when it collided with another boat. many were thrown into the sea as the vessel began to sink. more than 50 people have been taken to the hospital with injuries. power company hong kong e llectc chartered the ferry. it was taken employees and family to watch fireworks. the hong kong government has promised to investigate. the united nations fund has marked older persons with celebrating life expectancies. the fund's executive director launched the report in tokyo. it says rising living standards are creating older societies. it estimated by 2050 one in five people in the world will be over six. that's up from one in nine today. he also warned that populations in developing countries will age

faster than those in developed countries. he says 80% of the elderly will live in developing countries by 2050. >> if the developing countries of the world don't begin to put social policies in place, it might catch up with them so fast that it might become a chlenge. >> the u.n. official said countries should make full use of labor force for long term economic growth. he called on japan to share its experiences with the world's fastest aging population. an old tale of love found and lost moved a new audience last month in moscow. coin of vows tells the story of two people who meet and form a strong connection even though their countries are waging war.

>> reporter: it takes place in western japan during the japanese war in 1904. nicolai has an eye injury. he has been transported to hospital in the city. at first he closes himself off to the japanese, but tender care from a japanese nurse has his resolve. eventually the two fall in love. the idea for the musical was hatched after a russian gold coin that is more than 100 years old was discovered. the coin was found on the grounds of a hospital where russian prisoners of war were treated.

engraved on the coin are the names of a japanese woman and a russian man. research proved these people existed. the woman was a japanese nurse. the man a soldier from russia. the coin appears to be a piece of love between the two. the japanese set of prisoner of war camps during the war. some inmates were free to sickle in the city and bathe in local hot springs because of the locals kind treatment, the prisoners flourished. the actor who plays nicolai visits a russian cemetery before sitting out for moscow. >> translator: the people who are resting here wanted to

return to their homeland but could t. they must have felt very sad. i came here to tell them that we would help fulfill their yearnings. >> reporter: opening night in moscow at the theater. his impassioned performance touches the russian audience. they respond to the rhythm of the russian song. the performance ends with nicolai returning to russia. however he gives her the gold

coin. though he promises to come back, the two lovers are destined to never see each other again. [ applause ] >> translator: very good. it moved me to the bottom of my heart. >> translator: this taught me an aspect of japanese history that i didn't know before. you don't often see moscow theaters audiences in tears, but the tears flowed tonight. >> translator: there may be political problems between our two countries but i do feel that person to person communication right from the heart is what matters the most. [ applause ]

an international cross country rally in the sahara desert has opened in egypt in a bid to boost its main industry tourism. egyptians haven't seen many foreign visitors since protesters pushed their president from power last year. the rally started at the foot of pyramids near cairo. at the sign of tourism 36 vehicles from 16 european and asian countries started off. they will amendment to complete the 3,000 kilometer course in five days traveling over sand dunes and rocky terrain. teams from japanese auto makers are also participating in the race. >> translator: it's great. we can start at the foot of the pyramids and drive at high speed through the desert. there's nothing like this in japan. >> the government aims to show that egypt is safe enough to hold a large scale event.

it hopes a rally will have many tourists. weather is certainly a major player when planning any out door event. there's two storms churning in the west pacific affecting people in countries nearby. rachel ferguson gives us the detail. >> there certainly are. just after we get rid of one typho typhoon, there's two more to deal with. the other will be situated just over the south china sea. it's at the moment packing winds of 72 kilometers an hour. the gusts over 100 kilometers an hour. it looks like it's going to be causing some trouble for the islands as a severe tropical storm before swerving up toward eastern japan where it could come close to the eastern coast later in the week as a strong typhoon. another major system to deal

with here. let's go now to the south china sea. the tropical storm doesn't have such a decided path at the moment. it's going to be almost stationary. it's going to be gaining strength over the next several days. we'll see increasing sea swells and high waves. here in the northern philippines we're going to be seeing enhanced rainfall. this kind of system really enhances that rainfall. in towards southern china we see heavier rain as well. you could see also some locally heavy rain into tuesday too. temperatures are fairly seasonal. we're looking around the mid-20s in tokyo, seoul and beijing. let's go now to the americas. more severe storms hitting the

southeast today. it's the same storm system that has just moved a bit further toward the east. the severe weather impacting georgia as well as alabama. you have tornado warnings posted at the moment. it's going to be heading up toward the northeast. the severe storms are going to be impacting the ohio valley while the tennessee valley and the mid-atlantic you'll be seeing the brunt of the rainfall. things will be clearing out in new england. out to the west another system is going to be intensifying that moves through eastern canada and will be bringing 1 centimeters of snow. let's go to europe where a couple of low pressure systems are dominating north western locations here. yesterday some pretty nasty storms through france.

today it's justgoing to be pretty unsettled. wet and windy for the british isl isles. as the bands continue to come through the middle of the week it will be fairly unsettled. things are looking better across italy after reports of really severe storms but the storms are going to be moving further towards the east. in terms of temperatures we're looking at the mid to upper teens across much of northern and central locations but still very summer like in athens at 34. we have the mid-20s through the western and central mediterranean. here is your extended forecast.

that concludes this edition of "newsline."

stay with us. we'll be back with more updates at the top of the hour. hope to see you then.